A Continuation
by Becca1437
Summary: After the attack on the colony by the Phoenix Group the pieces must be put back together. There are more secrets to be discovered...
1. Aftershock

**A/N: This is how I wish/hope season two might have gone, if we'd gotten to see it. In this story I assume around 8 months between pilgrimages and about 2 months since the final, so the Shannon family have been in Terra Nova nearly a year. Just for the record I ship Skye/Josh and Maddy/Mark so these will play a part in the story  
**

**I have no beta, all mistakes are purely my own**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Terra Nova, and make no money from writing this. I do not own "Archaeology and the social history of ships". In fact all I do own is an overactive imagination and a laptop.**

Aftershock: A further reaction following the shock of a deeply disturbing occurrence or revelation

Aftershock part one

Commander Nathaniel Taylor breathed in the air, relishing again in its purity. The soft dawn light was just illuminating the colony and he knew that soon the day would be starting for the rest of the inhabitants of Terra Nova. For now though, he was alone with his thoughts and memories.

This was his favourite time of day. In a few hours he would be sat behind his desks, signing off on rebuilding plans and monitoring their progress back to functionality. He had always known it wouldn't be an easy process but he never realised how hard without his solid and capable deputy at his side.

But Wash was dead and gone. He could still see her crumpled body behind his eyelids, lifeless and cold. The person he had relied on most in Terra Nova, murdered by his own flesh and blood. He had tried to find anger at his son for the death but all he could summon was guilt and loss.

Memories of the days before Terra Nova was even a distant hope surfaced. The first time he set eyes on Ayani, seeing her grow big with Lucas. Lucas as a child full of innocence, the future, or so he had believed. The day he met his new field medic; young, keen, desperate to impress. In the Somali compound, her face ashen as she made her report, her voice trembling with the horrors she had seen.

His son, face twisted, holding a gun to her head, her body dropping to the ground. The moment he realised the monster he had created.

The light grew brighter and Taylor knew it was time to return to the main offices. He needed a shower and breakfast before he could start the day's business. Trying to shut off the memories he turned away from the sun and headed in, changing directions suddenly when he heard a scream breach the tranquil air.

#

"Maddy! Maddy come on you're going to be late for work" Elizabeth Shannon's voice added to the cacophony already coming from the kitchen

Maddy groaned. The Shannon household was always hectic in the mornings. She usually started the morning with a game of "beat the family to the shower" followed by a quick breakfast and an even quicker exit before the true chaos set in. Glancing at her clock she realised she had slept in far too long and was going to be treated to a full dose of the morning rush.

"Madeleine Shannon if you don't get out of bed right now, I'm going to come in there and...Zoe! What have I told you about playing with your food? It's not a toy, now eat up." Bracing herself, Maddy climbed out of bed and made her way to the bathroom. Climbing under the spray of the shower she yelped as the cold water contacted her skin.

"Josh! Did you use up the hot water again?" She shouted in the general direction of the door. When no reply came she did her best to wash as much of herself as possible with as little of the cold water as possible. When she was done she dried off and dressed, bolting for the kitchen to grab something to eat. Mumbling a general good morning at her family she headed for the door.

Jim was seated at the table, trying to persuade Zoe that her toast crusts were not in fact poisonous, and that she really should eat them up with Zoe was doing a champion job of disbelieving him. Elizabeth was charging around trying to get ready to go to the infirmary for the day, while Josh sat on the sofa, strumming on the guitar, a plate of not-quite-bacon balanced on the sofa in front of him. The debris from his culinary efforts lay around the kitchen. A fairly standard Shannon morning by appearances

"Josh, will you stop playing on that guitar and come clean up the kitchen. It looks like a bomb site..." Elizabeth's voice trailed into silence as her choice of words caught up with her. Josh stiffened at the phrase. An expression of pain fleeted across his face, his brows creasing in loss. Then as quick as it came, it was gone, replaced by a carefully neutral look.

"Josh sweetheart, I'm sorry" she started.

"No Mom, its fine. I have to go, Boylan wants me in early today" he said abruptly, passing Maddy where she had frozen in the doorway. As he pulled the door behind him Elizabeth dropped her head.

"Well that could have gone better" she said, her slight accent thickening with emotion. She could see Josh was hurting, they all could. It was hard on the whole family, being unable to help him.

"He'll be fine; we just need to give him time." Jim said, coming behind her and wrapping his arms around his wife. "Anyway, I need to get to work. I'll see you later." He kissed his wife and youngest daughter and headed to the door where Maddy was still hovering.

"Weren't you running late?" he reminded his daughter, rewarded by the look of panic on her face as she fled the house. Maddy was still new to her job as a junior research assistant at the lab, although the most research she had gotten to do was into how the various scientists liked their coffee.

Jim could sympathise. In truth there wasn't a huge amount for him to do as a cop these days. The colonists had thoughtfully put all crime on hold while they rebuilt, leaving Jim plenty of time to deal with his other responsibilities. After Lieutenant Washington had been killed, he had taken over as second in charge of the colony, with Lieutenant Guzman's help. Guzman saw to the soldiers, while Jim saw to the civilians. To be honest they both realised that neither of them could replace Wash, but they were managing to keep the colony together.

"Morning Shannon" called Guzman as Jim entered their shared office. "Got an actual crime for you today" he said, bent over what was probably a duty roster. Jim felt slightly ashamed of the flare of excitement he felt when he heard that, but managed to keep it under control.

"What happened?" he asked, curious about who would try something now, when they were still vulnerable.

"You know Jenna Connell, lives by the east gate?" Jim nodded familiarity with the former archaeologist/historian who now taught at the colony school. "Well her place was broken into this morning. The commander wants you over there five minutes ago"

#

"Ah, Shannon, I was wondering when you'd get here" Jim was greeted by Commander Taylor.

"Came as soon as I could sir. When did you get here?" He responded, following the Commander into the building. The dwelling was built in usual Novan style, although the artefacts displayed all over the walls were somewhat out of the ordinary.

"First on the scene Shannon."Taylor replied. "Anyway" he continued, looking at the woman who had just joined them "I'm sure you know each other?" Jenna Connell was a striking woman in her forties. Tall and thin, her best feature was her cloud of brown hair, usually tied up in a bun, but today falling around her face making her look vulnerable.

"I taught history to your eldest daughter. Maddy was an exceptional student" Said the woman, by way of introduction. "She would have made a brilliant archaeologist"

"Thank you, we're very proud of her." he replied "Ms Connell, I wonder if I could ask you a few questions?"

"Jenna , please. And of course." She sat down on the sofa, leant back against the cushions. "To be honest I'm a bit confused about all this."

"What do you mean confused? What happened?"

"Well I woke up just before dawn, like I normally do, but while I was lying there, I heard a noise from the main room." She leant forward as she told her story. "I thought I'd imagined it but then I heard another noise so I thought I'd investigate. So I got out of bed and came through and there was a man standing in the middle of the room. Anyway I screamed and he ran out, a few minutes later the Commander here ran in and that was it."

" What about it was odd? Did he take anything?" said Jim looking around for any obvious clues.

" That's what was odd. These artefacts" she gestured at the walls of the room before continuing "Any of these would sell for hundreds of Terrans to the right buyer, but he didn't touch them. All he took was a book. "

"A book? On a plex?"

"No, it was a paper one. "Archaeology and the Social history of Ships" It was printed in 2011 so only 140 years old. Worth about 100 Terrans, maybe, if the buyer was gullible." She gave a weak smile. "I knew when I came to Terra Nova that there would be no work for an archaeologist, but I couldn't bear to leave my books behind or my artefacts. I dug them all up you know."

Jim wasn't listening. He'd caught all he needed to know from the title of the book. All he needed to do now was get back to his office to do some research in order to confirm his suspicions. Thanking Jenna for her time he and the Commander left the house, and turned for the offices.

"What are you thinking Shannon?" Taylor asked once they got back to his office.

"Archaeology and social history of ships, sir? That can't be a coincidence." Jim sat opposite from the Commander, resting his forearms on the glass desktop.

"You think this has something to do with that ships prow?" Taylor raised an eyebrow. "Could be, but how useful would that book be – social history doesn't sound all that relevant."

"But if they can use the book to work out where it came from, then that has to give them information about how it got here."

#

Maddy finally made it to the lab, only a few minutes late. Running to her workstation she found a pile of plexpads with a note saying they needed filing and a request for her help in cataloguing some samples of dirt that afternoon. Not that she'd be doing any actual cataloguing, she'd probably just be following the scientist around taking notes.

It wasn't really a job she was doing, it was a class she'd signed up for at the school. Three days a week were spent in the classroom, learning higher level vocational skills, then two days a week in a job placement. It was designed for senior students to help them get a place as an intern or apprentice when they left school. It was a good idea, she just wished the work was slightly more exciting. Still it kept her out of the house all day, and it wasn't like she had any other options really. She couldn't work in the infirmary and had little interest in manual labour or becoming a soldier (despite a good deal of interest in one particular soldier).

She started to work through the pads, sending the files to the appropriate archives. It wasn't a particularly involving job, so she allowed her mind to wander. Dreaming of the day when she would be one of the scientists here, with her own research. Maybe she would discover something to make life better for the colony, or just spend her days satisfying her thirst for knowledge.

"Hard at work?" Maddy snapped out of her reverie at the question, asked by her favourite person in the colony. Her favourite person had also just trailed mud into the lab and over to her work station.

"Mark!" Maddy grinned up at her boyfriend. "I'm going to have to clean that mud up you know." She said, not really angry. "Shouldn't you be at work?"

"I am. Commander Taylor asked me to find a scientist to accompany next week's patrol." Corporal Reynolds said, as he made himself comfortable on her desk. "Apparently the Commander thinks the area might be of scientific interest."

"All of which doesn't explain why you are sitting on my desk right now." She teased. "I thought you had rules about work and pleasure"

"I do, it's not my fault that my girlfriend has to look so beautiful and intelligent sat at her desk ...Alright, alright, Dr Wallace said you'd have a list of who's available to go OTG" he surrendered to her glare.

"Sure, just give me a moment." Maddy typed in the command to the terminal in front of her, then turned to face Mark. "While that loads, I just wanted to say that you are going to have to help me clean up the mud."

"I would...but I'm busy defending the citizens Terra Nova." He smirked "Of course I could help, but then I would be doing a disservice to the colony."

"Nice try. The mop is in that cupboard over there." The computer gave a small beep, indicating it was finished with its search, and she downloaded the list onto a spare plex. "I can't help noticing you haven't moved."

"But Maddy, I might put you out of a job. Or I could sprain my shoulder."

Maddy rolled her eyes at his complaining. Sure he'd take on a dinosaur, but ask him to clean up afterwards...

"Ugh, just go. I can't bear listening to you whine." She shook her head in exasperation. "Here's your list, now get out of here."

"Thanks, Dinner tonight?" He said hopefully and was rewarded with a soft smile and a nod. "I'll meet you from here at 1700" Mark pressed a quick kiss to her forehead, then left.

"Maddy, I hope you'll clean that mud up?" called one of the scientists from her workstation.

"Yes Doctor Wishart" she called back with a sigh, then headed off to find a mop.

#

Jim leaned back at his desk. He had been researching the stolen book for hours now. Frustratingly all his findings had pointed to the same conclusion – the book would be of little assistance to anyone trying to find out about the ships prow. It would help if he could read the book himself but the only copy in Terra Nova had been stolen that morning.

Being the only police officer in Terra Nova was hard. He missed the camaraderie of a partnership, the ability to bounce ideas off other officers. Arguing the facts with his colleagues had been replaced by lonely hours at his desk searching for answers. Sighing he picked up his stylus and began to make notes on the large screen that made up his crime fighting intelligence hub.

_Book – Ships  
Ship prow – how, where, when?_

_What do the Phoenix group want with that ship?_

He groaned. Somehow writing out his notes didn't bring the normal revelations. The only thing he knew for sure was that this had been deliberate. Someone wanted that book, but for what purpose?


	2. Aftershock Part Two

**Hi everyone**

**Thanks for reading this, and particular thanks to my reviewers, and everyone who put my story on favourite/alert, you all rock. Also I'm going to be doing this in a loosely episodic format, with between 1 – 4 chapters making up an episode, so this is continued from the last chapter as part of the same episode.**

**I have no beta, all mistakes are purely my own**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Terra Nova, and make no money from writing this. I do not own "Archaeology and the social history of ships". In fact all I do own is an overactive imagination and a laptop.**

Aftershock Part Two

Collect glasses and rubbish off the table, spray with cleaning fluid, wipe, rearrange chairs, go behind the bar and clean the glasses, serve drinks to the next customer, repeat as many times as needed. Josh wasn't finding his job particularly interesting. Repetitive sure, but unfortunately it left his mind plenty of time to think. Thoughts that weren't particularly conducive to happiness.

"Hey bar boy, try smiling for a change! It won't kill you!" the customer he was serving was a particularly irritating soldier; Josh knew his face well on account of the amount of time he spent in the bar. Rearranging his features into a sardonic smile which didn't touch his eyes, he handed over the man's drink and collected the two terrans it had cost.

"No need to be so gracious about it bar boy!" shouted the man to the chorus of drunken laughter from his friends that followed all of his remarks. Unable to get a rise out of Josh, he went back to his table to heckle someone else.

The bar was less full than it usually was just after the security forces had changed shifts. The day before a group went OTG was always quieter as people preferred spending time with their families and loved ones. Given the rare moment of inactivity the lull had provided, Josh looked at the patrons enjoying unwinding after a day's work, engaged in socialising, relaxation, in some cases flirting. He wondered bitterly what secrets they were all hiding. Secrets like _I'm working with a mad man and a terrorist organisation that will get your girlfriend killed. _The son of a police officer, his natural suspicion and cynicism made him wonder what everyone in the room was guilty of. The rules here were different, and he felt like half the time he was running to keep up.

Seeing a table had just been vacated, he walked over to begin the clearing up process. After stacking the glasses on his tray he started spraying the table when a familiar voice interrupted him.

"Josh, sweetheart. Do you have a moment?" Elisabeth Shannon didn't often come into the bar, choosing to spend her free time in the gardens around the colony. Today she clearly had something on her mind though.

"Mom, shouldn't you be at work?" Josh asked confused as to why she was here. It was just gone four in the afternoon; the industrious doctor didn't usually finish work until later in the day.

"Maddy's working today so I clocked off early to pick up Zoe. She's off playing with Leah and Sam." Elisabeth answered Josh's next question before he asked it. "I hoped we could have a chat?" she continued hopefully.

"I'm a bit busy Mom. Can it wait?" he said, finally finished cleaning the table. He turned and walked back to the bar, where he realised she had followed him.

"No I don't think it can." Elisabeth's quiet voice held an iron resolve; foolishly Josh tried to fight her.

"Well it has to. I'm not allowed to talk with non customers at work. I'm sorry but you'll have to leave."

"In that case" she perched on one of the stools next to the bar "I'll have whatever the house special is."

"Seriously Mom? Can't we just talk later?" Josh asked with an eye roll.

"Nope, you'll just wriggle out of it. Now, I believe I ordered a drink?" Sighing Josh grabbed a glass and filled it.

"Now what do you want to talk about?" he said, placing the glass in front of his mother. She took a sip of the liquid in the glass and looked him in the eye.

"How are you?" She asked simply.

"I'm great Mom. Everything is just perfect for me right now."

"Sure. Now how are you really?" She put the emphasis on the last word, making it clear she didn't believe a word he was saying.

"I'm fine Mom. Really"

"No you're not. Now, spill."

"Wasn't Terra Nova supposed to be a fresh start" he snapped at Elisabeth suddenly "But it's just the same. Same crap, different place. Humanity is the same wherever you put it." Following her son's outburst Elizabeth simply looked him in the eyes, carefully weighing up her next words. The anger radiating off of Josh shocked her slightly but she tried not to show it.

"At least here we have a chance Josh. Not everyone gets a chance. " She drained her glass and set it down on the bar. "How much do I owe you?"

"Three terrans." He said, his voice defeated now that his moment had passed. Extracting a promise from him to be home for dinner, the doctor paid and left the bar. Watching her go he couldn't help but think about her words. _At least here we have a chance. Not everyone gets a chance._

"Some chance." He snorted softly, not wanting to admit that his mother was right. The next few hours were just as quiet with Josh only having to refrain from punching the irritating soldier once. As seven o clock rolled around, he stuck his head in Boylans office where the older gentleman had just arrived to do the evening shift. The last few months had seen Boylan giving him more responsibility in the bar, including running it alone during the day. Briefing the bar owner quickly on the day's events, he left to return home. As he walked out of the bar he walked smack into the one colonist he least wanted to talk to.

"Josh, can we please talk?" Skye Tate ran to keep up with the taller boy, striding away from her as fast as his long legs would carry him.

Seeing her face bought up emotions that he would rather keep buried. Anger, hurt, guilt, and even affection all tugged at him equally. Regret surfaced, regret for what they had lost; an amazing friendship with the potential for more. The conflict flickered on his face for a moment, then his eyes hardened, and next words were carefully measured.

"No. I have nothing to say to you." Josh kept his tone impressively neutral despite desperately wanting to shout at her. His flat words made her stop for fear of what else he might say to her.

"Josh, I had to...my mother." Skye called at his retreating back. "I'm sorry!" she yelled at him. He turned a corner and was gone. "I'm sorry" she repeated, softly this time as the tears began to flow.

#

Maddy was usually an extremely dedicated worker on her days in the lab so it was to everyone's surprise that at exactly 1700 that evening she set down the plex she'd been working on and left her workstation. Of course the reasoning behind her unusually sudden departure from work was soon revealed to be a certain blue eyed soldier.

"Hi" she said shyly, amazed at the effect he still had on her after just over six months together.

"Hi yourself" replied Mark, his face sweeping into its easy grin. "How was work?"

"Long, dull; better now that you're here" Maddy rubbed her shoulders, stiff from sitting still all day. "What did you have in mind for dinner?"

"Well I picked up some ingredients on my lunch break, so I wondered if you wanted to come over to mine and we could try cooking something?" he trailed off in the face of Maddy's disbelief.

"Did I just hear that right? Mark Reynolds wants to cook with me?" She teased. "You hate cooking, that's why you eat in the mess"

"Yeah but I thought it might be fun. I mean it's something that you like doing so I guess I should try doing it and with you would just be better-"

"You're rambling. That's my job" she cut him off with a smile. "Let's go cook."

They walked to Reynolds's small housing unit in comfortable silence. The paths they travelled along were lined with flowers and plants, something Maddy was still somewhat in awe of. Terra Nova was so contrary to the world she had left behind it was sometimes difficult to believe it was still earth. The thought of someone trying to turn her new home into a second ecological disaster zone made her feel physically ill.

They made small talk while Reynolds got out the ingredients he had bought. He looked at Maddy hopefully while she surveyed them, his face falling at her slight sigh.

"Well? Any ideas?" He asked, still hopeful she could make something amazing out of the things he had bought.

"Um, some kind of vegetable soup is the best I can come up with. Does that sound ok?"

"It sounds great. So where is the soup maker?" The young soldier started looking around the kitchen for a machine that looked like it might do the job. "How about this?" He asked, turning to his girlfriend who was currently doubled over in laughter

"A) There is no such thing as a soup maker and B) that's a coffee machine. Look how about you get started on chopping these up, and I'll do the other bits." She handed him a chopping board and a knife. "How is it that I know your kitchen better than you do?"

"Because cooking is a woman's work?" he asked, dodging the punch she threw at him.

"Ugh, what century were you born in? Now can you chop those up without chopping your fingers off? Because I don't consider spending hours in the infirmary a date."

#

The next morning there was a small party gathered by the gates as a group of soldiers prepared to go OTG. The main objective of the group was to find the meteoric iron source, since the Sixers no longer controlled the area. The newly promoted Corporal Reilly was leading the unit which consisted of a metallurgical and mining expert and six other soldiers.

The plan was to head to the known areas where the Sixers had placed their camps and scout in a circle of up to ten kilometres radius. Skye had provided the commander with the three camp locations that she knew of. They had already visited one of them, with no luck, but hopefully that would change shortly.

Commander Taylor walked out of the command centre to check on the preparations. Noting that everything was in order he called Reilly over to him.

"Corporal, I want you back in three days, top. You haven't found anything by then, turn tail and head home."

"Yes sir." Corporal Reilly turned to climb into the lead rover. The gate ahead began to move upwards.

"Move out" Taylor shouted and with that the expedition party left. Jim Shannon came wandering into the courtyard just in time to see the rovers disappear and the gates roll down.

"They headed out to look for the iron?" the Sherriff asked as they headed back towards the command centre.

"There are still bad guys out there Jim; I don't want them to have that hold over us again."

"Understood." Jim nodded. He turned to enter his office hoping that this morning could shed a revelation on the mystery of the stolen book. He smiled to himself realising what he had just thought. The mystery of the stolen book sounded like the title of one of the children's crime novels he used to read to Josh and Maddy before bed. If only there were a group of four inquisitive children and their pet dog. They'd have the mystery solved faster than you could say "High tea? How super!"

"You had any thoughts about that book?" asked Guzman as Jim took his seat. The dark haired soldier had turned away from his screen to talk to Shannon.

"Not really. If we're right and it does have something to do with the ships prow, then it means that Lucas and his people are still out there, rather than being a slasher chew toy."

"It proves that they're still plotting something, something to do with that ship, but what?" Both men turned around at the Commanders voice. "It means Terra Nova could still be under threat. That, gentlemen, is unacceptable"

#

That evening the Dunham and Reynolds were on sentry duty at the watch tower. It was not a terribly exciting job and the two men were entertaining themselves sharing slasher stories. Everyone had heard by now of the Commander facing down a slasher with a knife and winning. In a community as small as Terra Nova, gossip travelled faster than light. Almost all of the young soldiers in Terra Nova idolised Taylor and wanted to emulate the man.

"Do you reckon the story about him in Malaysia is true?" Dunham was picking at the wooden railings around the edge of the tower. "I mean the one where he managed to get into the underground base and get all those hostages out."

"Probably, that was 2132 right? Before Somalia." When Dunham nodded his agreement he went on. "I heard that was the first time he and Lieutenant Washington served together"

"Do you reckon they ever...y'know..." Dunham made a descriptive hand gesture. "I mean she was pretty gorgeous."

"I don't know and I don't want to know." Reynolds laughed, hoping that they wouldn't turn round and find the Commander behind them.

"She wasn't your type I suppose. You prefer them a bit younger."

"Watch it Dunham." Reynolds said, a threatening note creeping into his voice. He sighed, thinking about Maddy's jibe the day before. "Hey man, do you think I'm old fashioned?" It had been worrying him all day. Yeah sure he couldn't cook, and he had some old fashioned notions about how a woman should be treated, but that didn't make him old fashioned. Did it?

"Yeah sure you are. You live in the eighteenth century; I mean it's not a bad thing. Maddy obviously likes it." Dunham assured his friend. Then a sudden movement in the jungle caught his attention. "Hey check that out, two o'clock , about a click out"

"They look like ours. Why are they going so fast?" Reynolds exclaimed as the two rovers burst out of the jungle at top speed. "Best wake Taylor." he decided.

"No need gentlemen, I'm down here" a voice from the ground called up. "Open the gates for them."

The gates began their journey upwards for the second time that day. The rovers continued down the hillside towards the colony at breakneck speed, only skidding to a halt once they were safely inside the gate. Corporal Reilly jumped out of the lead rover to the surrounding soldiers' surprise. They hadn't expected the OTG party back so soon.  
"You find the Iron source Reilly?" queried Taylor although he knew she couldn't have.

"No sir!" Reilly hesitated briefly, then seemed to make a decision. "We saw something out there Sir."

"And that was?"

"Sir, I don't know but...It looked like another Time Portal. It opened up straight in front of us sir!"

#

Many miles from Terra Nova another cluster of lights braced itself against the complete blackness of the prehistoric night. The small fires the burned here served only to illuminate the darkness. By one of these fires a man sat, brooding. The lines of anger and resentment were etched deep into his face, a face that right now displayed impatience. The same expression was mirrored of the faces all those around him, the tension broken only when the sound of a rover coming towards them at high speed.

"Did you get it?" was the first question asked of the driver of the vehicle when he climbed out. The driver handed over the book wordlessly.

"What do we want that for?" asked a tall black woman. "What can we do with a book?"

"There's an old proverb Mira –If at first you don't succeed...then you better have a plan B."


End file.
